Paul Hoyningen-Huene
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Paul Hoyningen-Huene (born July 31, 1946 in
Pfronten Pfronten ( Swabian: ''Pfronte'') is a municipality in the district of Ostallgäu in Bavaria in Germany. Geography Pfronten is one of a total of 45 towns, markets and municipalities in the district of Ostallgäu. Pfronten is located on the n ...
,
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
) is a German philosopher who specializes in general
philosophy of science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...
and
research ethics Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...
. He is best known for his
Neo-Kantian In late modern continental philosophy, neo-Kantianism (german: Neukantianismus) was a revival of the 18th-century philosophy of Immanuel Kant. The Neo-Kantians sought to develop and clarify Kant's theories, particularly his concept of the "thin ...
interpretation of
Thomas S. Kuhn Thomas Samuel Kuhn (; July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American philosopher of science whose 1962 book ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' was influential in both academic and popular circles, introducing the term '' paradigm ...
's ideas. Hoyningen-Huene holds the chair for theoretical philosophy, particularly philosophy of science at Leibniz Universität Hannover (Germany) and is director of the Center for Philosophy and Ethics of Science.


Biography

Hoyningen-Huene studied physics as well as philosophy at the
University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's List of universities in Germany, sixth-oldest u ...
, the
Imperial College of Science and Technology Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
, London, and the
University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...
. He received a graduate degree in theoretical physics from the University of Munich in 1971 and earned his doctorate in theoretical physics at the University of Zurich in 1975. He was then an assistant with Hermann Lübbe at the Seminar for Philosophy at the University of Zurich. Hoyningen-Huene taught at the Universities of Zurich and Bern (Switzerland) and at
ETH Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...
(Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). In 1984-1985, he was a visiting scholar with Thomas S. Kuhn at the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...
, and from 1987-1988 he was a senior visiting fellow at the
Center for Philosophy of Science The Center for Philosophy of Science is an academic center located at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, dedicated to research in the philosophy of science. The center was founded by Adolf Grünbaum in 1960. The current direc ...
in Pittsburgh. In the period of 1990-1997, Hoyningen-Huene held the chair for foundational theory and history of the sciences, particularly the exact sciences, at the
University of Konstanz The University of Konstanz (german: Universität Konstanz) is a university in the city of Konstanz in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Its main campus was opened on the Gießberg in 1972 after being founded in 1966. The university is Germany's ...
(Germany). In 1997 he became the founding director of the Center for Philosophy and Ethics of Science at the
University of Hannover Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover (german: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität), also known as the University of Hannover, is a public research university located in Hanover, Germany. Founded on 2 May 1831 as Higher Vocational Sc ...
(Germany). In 2010, the center was integrated into the newly founded Institute of Philosophy under the direction of Hoyningen-Huene.
Hoyningen-Huene held positions as visiting professor in Switzerland (1980, 1987, 2010, 2012), Jugoslavia (1989, 1990), Denmark (1995, 2000) and Norway (1999).


Areas of work

Hoyningen-Huene's work has focused on issues in general
philosophy of science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...
, particularly on the philosophical writings of
Thomas S. Kuhn Thomas Samuel Kuhn (; July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American philosopher of science whose 1962 book ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' was influential in both academic and popular circles, introducing the term '' paradigm ...
and
Paul Feyerabend Paul Karl Feyerabend (; January 13, 1924 – February 11, 1994) was an Austrian-born philosopher of science best known for his work as a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked for three decades (1958 ...
and the subject of incommensurability. In his influential book ''Reconstructing Scientific Revolutions: Thomas S. Kuhn's Philosophy of Science'' he presents a
Neo-Kantian In late modern continental philosophy, neo-Kantianism (german: Neukantianismus) was a revival of the 18th-century philosophy of Immanuel Kant. The Neo-Kantians sought to develop and clarify Kant's theories, particularly his concept of the "thin ...
reconstruction of Kuhn's philosophy of science and opposes an irrationalist interpretation of Kuhn.
In addition, Hoyningen-Huene is interested in the limits of
reductionism Reductionism is any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena which can be described in terms of other simpler or more fundamental phenomena. It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical pos ...
in science,
emergentism In philosophy, emergentism is the belief in emergence, particularly as it involves consciousness and the philosophy of mind. A property of a system is said to be emergent if it is a new outcome of some other properties of the system and their int ...
and the development of a theory of anti-reductionist arguments. His most recent book ''Systematicity: The Nature of Science'' is devoted to the question of the nature of science (including the social sciences and humanities) and develops the thesis that scientific knowledge is primarily distinguished from other forms of knowledge by being more systematic. In the field of ethics of science, Hoyningen-Huene has primarily dealt with questions concerning the responsibility of scientists and engineers.


Awarded memberships

*2009: International Academy of Science, Munichhttp://www.leopoldina.org/fileadmin/.../CV_Hoyningen-Huene_Paul_D.pdf *2001: Leopoldina, German National Academy of Sciences


Selected publications

*''Reductionism and Systems Theory in the Life Sciences: Some Problems and Perspectives'' (ed. with Franz M. Wuketits), Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1989 *''Reconstructing Scientific Revolutions: Thomas S. Kuhn's Philosophy of Science.'' Translated by Alexander T. Levine. (With a Foreword by Thomas S. Kuhn.) Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2. Ed., 1993

*''Incommensurability and Related Matters.'' Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. 216 (ed. with Howard Sankey). Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2001 *''Formal Logic. A philosophical approach.'' Translated by Alexander T. Levine. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh University Press, 2004. *''Rethinking Scientific Change and Theory Comparison: Stabilities, Ruptures, Incommensurabilities.'' Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. 255 (ed. with Léna Soler and Howard Sankey). Berlin: Springer, 2008 *''Systematicity: The Nature of Science.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 2013


References


External links


Center for Philosophy and Ethics of Science
at
Leibniz Universität Hannover Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover (german: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität), also known as the University of Hannover, is a public research university located in Hanover, Germany. Founded on 2 May 1831 as Higher Vocational Sc ...

Paul Hoyningen-Huene on Academia.eduPaul Hoyningen-Huene on Researchgate
{{Authority control German philosophers German male writers Philosophers of science Academic staff of ETH Zurich